


Deep Silence Between the Notes

by tillthestarsevaporate



Category: For the People (TV 2018)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Frenemies, Hurt/Comfort, One-Shot, littlebell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 01:32:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18539569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillthestarsevaporate/pseuds/tillthestarsevaporate
Summary: Just a Littlebell one-shot because there are not enough fics of them.Kate visits Sandra in her office after they find out the guard is dead.Takes place at the end of 2x7 (The Boxer).





	Deep Silence Between the Notes

**Author's Note:**

> This is unedited. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

 

 

Kate Littlejohn picks up her phone and unlocks it. She is about to call Sandra but thinks better of it. If she knows about Sandra anything at all, she knows that she prefers direct interaction, or she wouldn’t have asked to meet face-to-face the night before.

She needed advice, she said. She didn’t know what to do, she said. But Kate knew that Sandra had already made her decision and wanted Kate to either talk her out of it, or make her absolutely confident she did the right thing. Except Kate doesn’t know which of them she did.

Kate knew Sandra. At least she would like to think so. Both women couldn’t be more different, and yet, maybe it’s all these differences that make Kate understand Sandra more than she’d expected.

Two sides of the same coin.

Kate Littlejohn readies to leave her office, putting on her coat, picking up her bag, and switching off the lights. Outside the building, she emerges into frigid air. She enjoys its freshness, but there is something more important she needs to do.

If Kate knew Sandra like she thought she did, she’d know Sandra is devastated right now. It had been quite a dilemma she was in. Kate wouldn’t want to have been in her position. She did her best to help her friend last night, though. It had seemed like whichever choice Sandra had made, there was no winning. Break a client’s confidentiality and save a man’s life – best case scenario. Somehow, Sandra managed the worst scenario – betray the man’s trust and still fail to save the life that was in danger.

Yes, Kate does not envy Sandra. But Sandra probably needs a friend right now.

With a posture that doesn’t yet betray her concern, Kate walks into the half-lit, half-empty floor. The door to Sandra’s office is closed, but she sees the lights from beneath.

A knock. Kate enters. She doesn’t wait. Her eyes immediately land on a tearful, red-eyed Sandra crouched to the side of the couch. She closes the door.

“What are you doing here, Kate?”

Kate slightly tilts her head to the side, offering a sad smile. “I heard.”

Sandra looks away and tries to wipe her tears.

“You did what you thought was right, you know?”

“You don’t know that. Everyone keeps saying I did the right thing, but no.” Sandra sniffs.

Kate sits down next to Sandra. “It matters not what everyone thinks. What do _you_ think?”

Sandra looks at her, the fire in her eyes blazing fiercely. This passion, she admires it. She feels it, too, but in her own way.

“I was not myself. I am the loyal one. It doesn’t matter if I’m working or not. Work is my life, it isn’t a role I play.”

“You’re right. What else?”

Sandra’s chest visibly rises and falls. “I shouldn’t have given up that map.”

“Okay.”

“But that guard is dead anyway. It’s my fault.”

Sandra’s eyes tear up. Kate can’t help herself and moves closer. She looks to the other woman.

“Uhuh, no, Sandra. It was not your fault.”

The look Sandra gives her can only be described as scared. Guilty.

“If I had given it up earlier-“

“The reports confirmed he was dead long before you were even assigned the case.”

“I could’ve done something. I still should’ve known there was something wrong sooner.”

“You did what you could. Everyone knows that. You always give a case everything you could. Not everything works out all the time.” Kate breathes. “Today was one of those days.”

“Please stop trying to make me feel better.”

“You know me better than that, Sandra.” That earns her a small smile. “I absolutely am not trying to make you feel better, although that would be a great bonus.”

Sandra hesitantly smiles through the almost-dried tears.

“You’re passionate, that’s your strength. Don’t lose that. This passion? It’s what makes you _you_. It’s what makes Sandra the Person and Sandra the Defender my two favourite people. I was wrong to tell you to separate the two.”

A sniff. A look in Kate’s eyes. She’s weak against the doe-eyed lawyer.

“Come here,” whispers Kate. It takes an ounce of courage, but she loops her arm around Sandra’s shoulders, squeezing as Sandra lays her head on Kate’s shoulder. Kate presses her cheek to Sandra’s hair.

A slow rubbing motion against Sandra’s arm slowly calms her breathing down.

“It’s going to be okay,” Kate whispers as she continues rubbing her hand against Sandra’s arm.

“Unless I beat you at _Clue_ ,” Sandra offers.

Kate chuckles. “I didn’t say things are going to be okay for _me_.” She knows she would totally win, but playing with Sandra would be the most fun she’s had with this game.

“Thank you,” Sandra says as she looks up at Kate. “For the advice. And for _this_. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Kate.”

Kate’s chest inflates with pride, the good kind. The kind that fuels her willpower. She wants to be there for Sandra.

But she just smiles, pulling Sandra closer.

“Any time,” Kate says.

She truly means it.


End file.
